Members of the group have complained that BCS staff failed to provide the group with the support
it needed to run high-profile events, after leading figures from the IT industry offered to attend.
Two resigning members are volunteers and say that running the group is no longer fun.

BCS told Computer Weekly that Elite is now back on track following a series of new elections,
and expects to appoint new officers in the next few weeks.

David Tidey, head of IT at Wandsworth borough
council and vice-chair of Elite, said, "As a member group of BCS, the chartered institute for
IT, Elite has recently held elections for positions on the committee and will be electing a new
chair and secretary in line with our constitution shortly.

"In addition, we have been working closely with BCS staff to review several of our day-to-day
operating processes. As a result, the Elite committee is looking forward to continuing the
important work we do supporting senior IT professionals who join BCS Elite."

Elite re-launched in September 2009 when it elected a new chairman with strong contacts in
business and government to raise the profile of the group. It planned a series of events with "very
high-profile" figures from IT, government and e-commerce.

But senior members of Elite have complained to BCS executives that they had to abandon plans for
five events at top London venues, and to reschedule another event five times after failing to
receive adequate administrative support from BCS headquarters.

They claim BCS staff were late paying deposits for venues secured by Elite, and that rule
changes meant BCS staff were unwilling to sanction events unless they could inspect the public
liability insurance and carry out fire checks on the venues.

The events were intended for VIPs in the IT industry, who often gave short notice of their plans
to be in the UK.

The difficulties prompted the committee to vote to underwrite the cost of two events and set up
its own online booking system and website to publicise
them rather than go through BCS.

Elite secretary Roger Ellis, a member
of Elite for 12 years and a former chairman, sent an e-mail to Elite committee members and BCS
executives in December announcing his resignation and raising concerns about lack of support.

"Running events, which used to be so straightforward, now seems immersed in a mountain of
bureaucracy, obstacles and paperwork," he wrote.

"We are all volunteers, not employees, and I fear BCS seems to have somewhat lost sight of this
fact. We do it because we enjoy it; we want to help our members - and have fun."

Elite's chairman raised similar issues in a resignation e-mail circulated to Elite committee
members after accepting a job overseas.

"I believe I have done my utmost to always act in the best interests of both the committee and
members, and most importantly 'serve the members' through instigating a groundbreaking monthly
calendar of high-profile events over a nine-month period.

"I feel that Elite has ceased to be fun and it is quite apparent that the members' interests are
supposedly of no consequence too.

"Whereas I could feasibly continue this role, I would rather expend what precious time and
energy I have on those societies and charities where I am needed and my work is appreciated."

Minutes of an Elite committee meeting in September claimed that relations between BCS and
specialist groups, such as Elite, had deteriorated in recent years.

"This means that our membership have so far this year lost three VIP speakers and at one point
our first group dinner in six years.

"As this situation has persisted for quite some time now, it means that the Elite membership
have not been well served by their committee or BCS headquarters this year and this position cannot
be allowed to continue."

Other longstanding members of Elite's committee have also stepped down, but have not made their
reasons public. They include Charles
Chang, chair of BCS management forum and BCS councillor, and Bob Harvey, a member of Elite for
ten years and a BCS trustee and councillor.

However, members of Elite say the group is now looking to the future after a round of elections
of new committee members, and after forging a closer working relationship with BCS.

A senior Elite committee member, who asked to not be named, said that he was optimistic that any
problems had been resolved.

"The positive story is that Elite has got a new committee and it is going to continue doing
things for its members, which includes high-quality events. It has got some very enthusiastic
people who put a lot of time and effort into it," he said.

He said that he believed the problems had been partly caused by personalities and could have
been resolved much earlier if people had picked up the phone and spoken to each other.

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